"Before, while reading newspapers, I often asked myself why there are more and more abuse cases in our society," said 19-year-old Therapong Thongkrathok, who comes from the north-eastern Thai province of Nakhonratchasima.

"Here, I learned that since we, men, are the main cause of the problems, we can help to stop them," added Therapong, one among 300 young men aged 15 to 20 years from 57 poor communities across the country who met in Bangkok last week in a seminar on stopping the exploitation of girls and women.

"I have a mother and sister. I sure don't want them to be abused in any way," he said.

Last year for instance, figures from the Royal Thai Police showed that 3,847 cases of rape were filed and 2,531 people were arrested. Surprisingly, officials say, the youth appear as the group of offenders whose numbers have increased the most.

Experts say this may well be one indicator of changes in society, such as changing family structures, life in cities, factors that are changing behaviour among youth and increasing the risks they take, whether it is in lifestyle, health or sex.

"Today, youth are growing up in environments which easily lead them to misbehave," said Somphong Chitradub, director of the Education Institute for Underprivileged Students at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

Somphong also referred to an earlier study by his institute that showed that Thai youth first learn about sex when they are 10 to 12 years old, while the average age for their first sexual experience is 16 to 17.

"Materialistic values, drugs and sex normally come together. One thing will easily lead to the others," he said. "Teenagers themselves are not the only factor in these problems any more, which makes it harder to solve the problems. Most of the time, they don't know what to do or who to talk to when they have problems."

Unaware of problems

The small group discussions at last week's seminar, held at the Government House, introduced the boys to problems that affect girls and young women that they were not always aware of — sexual abuse byrelatives, child abuse by family members, child labour and exploitation.

There is also the risk of adoption of wrong values from peer or youth culture and early sex, which are challenges that many young people face.

Through the seminar, "we are trying to get the boys to stand up in defence for girls and fight for them instead of taking advantage of them and seeing them as sex objects", said World Vision Thailand national director Chusak Wuthiwarapas. "We also want to educate boys about girls' rights."

The idea of exposing boys to the problems women face, in order to sensitise them early to avoid gender biases and discriminatory behaviour, came from a national conference for girls that World Vision Thailand held last year.

"They (the girls) said it is good to have them learn how to protect themselves, but getting the message to boys and men can make more of a difference," Chusak said.

The fact that every woman has dignity and has equal rights as men is among messages that last week's discussion tried to send to the boys, in order to correct wrong perceptions of women as second only to men as decision-makers, being fit only to be followers, and as sex objects.

"Men usually learn from environments around them that aggression is acceptable," agrees Usa Lerdsrisuntad of the non-government Foundation for Women, citing examples of the gender messages in movies and computer games, activities that many boys and men indulge in.

Sex objects

In commercial advertisements, she says, sexy images of women are often unnecessarily repeated to sell products and emphasise perceptions that women are sex objects.

In Thai soap operas, plots of stories showing men acting aggressively towards women are also often seen. The message is made worse by the fact that despite such behaviour, the television series often show the women accepting such actions and later, the couple live happily together.

"Men and women are socialised very differently," Usa says in an interview. "The concept of equality of men and women has never been taught to children. Good men are defined by characters of leadership and decisive, while good women are said to remain calm and devoted,"' she adds, recallingcommon social messages that Thais usually grow up with.

Citing another example, she says: "Until this day in rape cases, women are mostly blamed (for the crime) and asked whether they were dressed properly, or consented to sex."

At the end of the seminar the participants called for, among others, the creation of shelters for abused girls and women, stricter action against sexual exploitation and relevant sex education to be taught starting at the elementary school level. These are among the 12 guidelines submitted to the Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Share insights

After returning to their homes, the boys will also be encouraged to work in practical ways to reduce exploitation against girls in their communities, to share their insights in schools, to share their thoughts with friends who might be undergoing abuse, the seminar's organisers say.

"The best immunity against bad surroundings for Thai youth are caring families and communities," said Orasom Sutthisakorn, author of many best-selling books on child exploitation.

"It is better to start learning these problems when we are young," said 14-year-old Sanya Tammachat from Songkhla, a province 950km south of Bangkok. "It is hard to change older people's ideas. Sometimes, they just don't listen to your problems."

Displaying the eagerness of youth, Sanya and Therapong say they plan to find ways to set up regional and national networks to continue raising awareness of girls' abuse in communities and schools.

"It is not enough that we know, but do nothing. We have to get the message across to other men, friends and relatives, too," said Therapong.